I will say this about our AAA team It looks like Raley and Rusin are dealing, and that’s saying something considering they are doing it in the PCL. Not sure how well it would translate to the bigs, but it looks like they have their strike out pitch working. I see both of them had just under 100 Ks last season Rusin (95) already has 10 Ks which puts him ahead of his last year’s pace, and his GO/AO is at 1.26. Raley (98 Ks last year) has 17 which pushes him way ahead of his pace, he also has a nice GO/AO 1.38 and is holding lefties to .182. I know they are both under 20 IP (18 and 17 respectively), but it’s nice to know that there is someone to turn to in the minors.

abe

Great job on the MLD! But where is luke I love him!!

JulioZuleta

Agreed, Luke’s the man. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.

Hubbabubba

Not sure if we should worry that a couple pitchers who are supposed to blow anyway are stinking up the minors. Doesn’t matter if their ERA is 7 or 17 cause they won’t every sniff the majors anyway…on the other hand, I would like to hope that the new “Cubs way” approach would make marginal players look much better than they did under previous regimes.

I couldn’t find anything in his recap that mentioned how he looked, which is very odd…

Spriggs

I’m just glad he’s pitching right now. Went there specifically to see him and this was the best I’ve seen so far. Prolly topping in the low 90’s, but that’s just a guess. Has a great curve that he threw a few times.

Cedlandrum

“I’m just glad he’s pitching right now.” Agreed.

Spriggs

Also went there wondering if I’d see Soler… I didn’t. Is there any word on what they are doing with him?

Jp3

Brett just mentioned he is now on Daytona’s roster, they may have just been holding him back(pardon the pun) because they were facing the team he flipped out on 6 games ago.

Now a great majority may not make it, but there are at the very least some guys who have upside. Not enough of them, but more then 2. shrug.

Spriggs

For sure more than 2. A little depressed today. McNutt and Vizcaino are the 2 I was referring to. I actually like Rosscup quite a bit and wasn’t even considering Johnson. Cabrera has a ton of still untapped talent. I will be surprised if he sticks as a starter though.

Cedlandrum

I feel ya.

Believe in 2015

Where the heck is Juan Carlos Paniagua? I’m starting to get worried he won’t pitch this year

Cedlandrum

Oh he’ll pitch it just might be in the DSL.

North Side Irish

Putnam’s numbers are a little ugly overall, but he gave up 5 ER in 2 IP during the first week. He’s gone scoreless in 3 IP over in his last two outings, so hopefully it was just a rough start to the season.

JulioZuleta

*Probably just a pen name.

MightyBear

Any word on how Blake Parker is doing at Iowa? I still think he has the potential to be a good bullpen arm for the Cubs. If he can get his velocity back up in mid 90’s.

JulioZuleta

Not sure what the velocities are looking like, but he just broke the Iowa saves record, which is like, one of those records you don’t necessarily want. It basically means he has been at Iowa for a long time. He’s going to be 28 in June, and reached Iowa for the first time in 2008…

Larry Bittner

Hey Believe in 2015,

You bring up a great point. Paniagua. It’s like there is this black hole that prospect pitchers go through. They get signed and don’t pitch for months, or pitch the bare minimum. What is the deal? Are they going to “pitch mechanics’ school? Can anyone shed some light?

Cedlandrum

Depends on where they come from. If they come in the draft they have likely thrown a ton and so clubs often won’t have them pitch much more because they don’t want them over used. With foreign players a lot of times they may not be throwing as much or they may be young, so they have to build them up. Other times there are Visa issues that need to be taken care of. So it just depends on where they come from.

Spriggs

Last I heard, Paniagua was not in the USA because of Visa problems. He is not in Mesa (as far as I know). Has anyone heard anything more on him.

Larry Bittner

This site should consider an ongoing update on pitcher prospects (with rankings), on all levels in the minor league.

Jp3

That would be a depressing recap, also a short list if they’re just recapping the ones with decent potential.

Blublud

I think John Andreoli is turning into a stud prospect. Look for an early promotion for him. I expect he’ll be in Big League camp next year with a chance to see the bigs next year also at some point.

MightyBear

I like Andreoli too. I hope he turns out to be the Cubs lead off man. God knows they need one. When does everyone think they will move him up to Tennessee?

Cedlandrum

Ha, Sczcur, and Silva are all having a good start and are probably better prospects at this point so I would say that until one gets moved to Iowa he will stay in Daytona.

cubzfan

IMHO, Ha should really be moved up to AAA in May, which would open a spot for Andreoli in AA. Silva is also old enough to be bumped up, but the I-Cubs already have enough lefty outfielders.

The guy I wonder about is Bruno. How long do you let him rake in Daytona before saying “Heck with it…let’s see if he can keep this up at Tenn.?”

blublud

Silva K/BB ratio is horrible, and he does hit for enough power to make it worth while. He really has no shot at being an everyday player unless he works on that. Has even taken a walk this year.

Szczur is off to a great start, and hopefully he stay the course and shows that he’s a baseball player and not a football player with baseball tools.

Ha is hitting the ball very well, but what is really impressive is he more then doubled his walk rate last year from the 3 years before and continues that pace this year. If he continues to display a hit stick, he could be one of those guys that jumps AAA, because his defense could play in the bigs right now. Keep an eye out for him if we end up trading Soriano, Dejesus or both.

blublud

Meant to say Silva doesn’t hit for enough power to make it worth while.

JulioZuleta

Silva’s K rate on its own isn’t that bad (17.5%), but yeah, his BB rate is pretty awful. I wouldn’t give up on him just yet though.

On the Farm

“Keep an eye out for him if we end up trading Soriano, Dejesus or both.”

I would have to think Sweeney is the next man in (especially if David gets traded first), and then BJax, although Brett not fixing his K rate in Iowa leads me to hope maybe give Ha the first shot over Jackson.

Also, I see Vitters is back, it would be nice to see his bat really take off so we can have a decent stick over at third.

Jp3

Yeah Brett said could be like Campana but actually… At 6’1″ 215lbs he’s like 2 Campanas!!;). I do like his OBP to this point this year and last year.

JulioZuleta

I was referring more to his speed/lack of power. I actually did not realize he was that big. Kind of surprising he cant generate more power. He has a long was to go, but could fill that Campana role, but with OBP.

Cedlandrum

I like Andreoli and there are some things to be very excited about, like his approach, but he won’t be a stud prospect if he doesn’t start driving the ball. Right now he is a good player who gets on and steals bases. Which is great and he may be a very good prospect but he won’t be a stud unless he learns to use his frame(which should be strong enough to hit it out) to hit it out more then once a year. He is also 23 so he needs to start moving in the system.

by a simlar type player and at a similar age, who is condered a top 10-15 prospect, while moving up this system to AA and reaching AAA by late this year or the start of next year, there a chance he becomes a stud prospect. I do understand that Billiy Hamilton is at AAA, and Andreoli is at A+. I’m also not suggesting that Andreoli is as good as Hamilton, or that he’ll ever be ranked 10-15 in the prespect rankings, but it not out of the question that he could top the 100 is he keeps up the pace at Tennessee, and could easily crack the Cubs top 10..

Cedlandrum

I like your enthusiasm but Billy Hamilton is a game changing presence on the bases. He is 22 and in AAA. I like Andreoli he is a good player, but he is in his age 23 season and repeating A+. Not to say he can’t become a breakout player, but he would have to hit 10+ homers and steal better then his 75% or whatever it was last year while swiping at least 50 bags to be in the Cubs top 10. He is a good defensive player, but even this year he is playing more right and left then center because DeVoss and Easterling are better defenders. I don’t say all this to be a downer, but too many things would have to align for him to be a top 100 player this year and I just don’t see it.

http://www.justinjabs.com/blog/ justinjabs

Good job Julia!!

http://www.justinjabs.com/blog/ justinjabs

Juilo!! Darn autocorrect

http://www.bleachernation.com Brett

No. You were right the first time.

JulioZuleta

Julia Zuleta is my stage name some nights.

Spriggs

I knew it!

DReese

I really like this style of minor league updates. I get more stats, even though I know right now the stats mean nothing.

AA Correspondent

Silly question, but there is already a lot of talk on this board about player movement in the system. With every move, there has to be a corresponding move (either up or down). Do you expect to see a lot of DFA/releases/trades at the MLB level soon to force the dominos to start falling?

I figured it would be June before we started to see some movement.

From a TN perspective, I expect to see Jae-Hoon Ha on the move first and would not surprise me to see Alberto Cabrera head to AAA soon as well. McNutt is a disaster and I predict they cut bait with him if he does not turn it around in short order….Zych is also a decent candidate to move up shortly. Other than that, I don’t see a whole lot of movement from TN.

Brandon

JulioZuleta

I think there will be a lot of movement at AAA. That lineup is just incredibly old. Iowa’s normal starting lineup is older than the Cubs normal starting lineup. When Vitters and Lake get back, and when Ha and Szczur are ready to move up, there’s going to be a lot of turnover. Most of the Bogusevic-types will probly opt out or be cut. I’m sure Ryan Sweeney will get called up, but he most likely not until DeJesus is traded or someone gets hurt. If they called him up to the team now, presumably Sappelt would go down, but that would give the Cubs three lefty OF’s in Schierholz, DeJesus and Sweeney. That’s not ideal, especially for a team that’s really struggling against lefties.

On the pitching side, there are a few guys at Iowa they could afford to cut without losing any sleep over it. I think you’re right that early June will be a busy time. By then I think you’ll be looking at a Soler callup, maybe a Bruno callup. They’ll have some flexibility because there aren’t many positions at Iowa that are “blocked” by legitimate prospects.

mak

Agreed, I think as guys like Ha, Szczur, Jockish, Cabrera, Zych progress, the Bogusevic’s, Putnams, etc. will get released. Probably not until June ish.

Jp3

I hadn’t even thought about all the movement that is going to go down at AAA when vitters and lake come back… They both will be playing 3rd and corner outfield spots, that could be a nice mess to have. Ha has to be considered for Iowa soon. That lineup could be decent to watch soon enough. Could be Ha, Lake, Jackson, Watkins, Vitters, Scherzer. I’d also guess Sweeney is the best bet to get the Cubs call 1st.

Cedlandrum

The movement with lake and Vitters coming back will be the cutting of Donnie Murphy, Tim Torres and/or Edwin Masonett. But most likely the first two.

Cedlandrum

All of the movement talk is very premature. You usually don’t move “prospects” until they have at least established that they are ready. NO one has done that yet.

MikeW

I would disagree with that. See my post below about JH Ha.

JulioZuleta

I think Ha could be an option some day, but he won’t get the call over Sweeney. If you look at Sweeney’s career numbers, they’re actually pretty solid.

MikeW

I mean we know what Sweeney is tho, Julio. It would be nice to give the shot to the younger guy first. I dunno, I think Ha could be a really good 4th OF.

Cedlandrum

Few things to consider. Sweeney is a new addition, but before that you had Jackson, Bogusevic, Wright and McDonald all in Iowa, so I think the Cubs want to see him really dominate at AA before bumping him. Do you really think he has established himself? I think he is in the process and by late may, early June you will see a bump, but not right now unless their is an injury I don’t see it.

MikeW

i can’t understand why Jae Hoon Ha is still at Tennessee. He’s got 700 PA over the course of 2011-now. I know Iowa has a lot of OF. I’m saying one should be released so that he can play everyday there. Unless there viewing AAA as where prospects go to die…

I’d also be in favor of Ha joining the bench on the big league team over Sweeney.

AB

A couple reasons I think.

The veterans at AAA usually have an opt-out clause after a month or two if they are not activated, so some of them may be gone/released soon. Once the Boise roster is announced in a month or two there will be a lot more movement.

These couple of months at the beginning of the season are the last chance for the fringe prospects that have been here for 3-4 years and older guys at each level to prove they are worth keeping. To make room for the new draft class and such, so you’ll probably see a half-dozen if not more guys released.

Daytona is returning the favor today. 13-2 so far. Baez with a nother HR, and Geiger HR’d. After the Geiger bomb, Bruno got beaned. Keep in mind, this is the same team that they got in the scuffle with last week.

Also, Muskat tweeted Soler will be back tomorrow, smart to hold him out until after this series.

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